One of the ways that manufacturers can overcome the non hardening characteristics of stainless steel is to add hardened manganese steel nodules to the molten metal just prior to casting. The nodules are much harder than the stainless and when encapsulated in the stainless they will stop attempts to grind or saw through the stainless. Manganese steel also work hardens when you try to cut it with grinders or saws. Cutting discs and saw blades will quite simply break or wear out when a nodule is hit. I know this from experience. Years ago I worked in a shop where we had taken on a government job to manufacture the bars and barred doors for a high security prison that was being built. The bar material was very expensive and almost impossible to cut. The bars were tungsten carbide tubes filled with 316 stainless that had manganese nodule added to it. To prove the material batches for the inspectors we had to place a sample in a horizontal band saw with a certain blade pitch and try and cut through it. The saw was stopped after 10 minutes and the sample and the blade inspected. The majority of samples never made it past the carbide but those that did never cut more than 1/8" into the stainless when a nodule was encountered. Every saw blade was totaled after 10 minutes. All of the teeth were either gone or so blunted to the point of being useless. The way we cut it was plasma arc cutting which most prisoners or robbers would most likely not have access to. Welding was done with an aluminium phosphor bronze electrode as I recall.
there is also ferritic stainless steel which can be precipitation hardened, though it never gets as hard as carbon steel, it has fantastic properties otherwise.
Monkman no he’s just saying that lpls videos are normally shorter and a longer video usually means a beefy/hard to pick lock but lpl talked more about the lock than usual I think
Seems like there would be quite a bit of value in disassembling the first lock you received to see if it's a failure mode that could happen to an apparently-functional, in-use lock and leave you locked out.
I was expecting to see that pick, too, but I assumed he wanted to use a Chinese pick for a Chinese lock. However, checking the release date of this video suggests that you're probably right and this was done before that pick was created.
Used to work in a casino as a slot attendant and helped re-key the machines after a key was accidentally taken home. I want you to pick a lock from a casino slot machine. I'll wait...
Work at a company that manufactures slot machines. The allure of the slot machine lock being able to be opened is mitigated by a) an alarm that can only be disabled after triggering by a master key different from the first one to open the cabinet, and is located inside the machine, and b) the place where the money goes is usually required by regulation to be locked as well. The main front lock shouldn't be too hard to pick, as the usual safety measure relies a lot on the alarm and associated maintenance lights.
@@acebulf Yeah, I work with some casino "slot machines" and one key for the alarm, one for the outer door, and the cash box is behind another locked door inside.
In my experience, the stickiness that you attributed to grit in the lock from the manufacturing process at the Chinese factory is likely correct. I'm a hobby machinist. When I buy a new Chinese-made chuck, or some other machining equipment, the first thing I do is to completely disassemble it, liberally spray all the parts with WD-40, use rags, Q-Tips and compressed air to remove all the grinding grit and then deburr all the machined edges before reassembling the item.
A lot of commenters seem enamored with the drama of the Ramset. But attacking the wrongly keyed or defective lock with the slide hammer makes the most sense. I hope you follow through with a slide hammer experiment after you create a good test set-up for the lock. I also like the idea that someone suggested of threading the pin, pulling it out with a bolt and trying to re-core the good lock. All in all this is an interesting lock and you produced a great and informative video about it. Thanks again for sharing your hobby and skills!
Was watching and I had to let you know about the corrosion resistance of stainless steels. They come in a variety of alloys with 316 and 304 being the most common (these are also more akin to category than strict metallurgical description, but general properties can be described). In general, you can have strength of corrosion resistance. Most stainless steels are weaker than high carbon steels, but are far superior in wearing against the elements due to their corrosion resistance. 316 alloys are more corrosion resistant than 304 alloys, but 304 are stronger and have really good corrosion resistance. They will still corrode. It will take longer, but all steel will corrode to failure because of how rust forma and wears away. I work in the marine boating industry and this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The quickest single sentence I've heard to describe this is the following: It's stain less, not stain proof. It is also the reason why bronze bodies are so commonly used in marine locks. Bronze still corroded, but the corrosion does not wear away the same way rust does from steel. Im a big fan of your videos and want to help give accurate information if I can.
i mean if you'd be picking this lock you'd know it's specifics, and what i think he meant by the "if it will be enough to hold the core in" is probably about the ability to hold it against someone trying to just hammer the core out
It seems that taking the whole pin off and replacing it with a real bolt would be a good idea. Disc detainer core should have nothing in the look that looks like bible so you could easily drill and tap that part.
Just got done watching a bunch of your vids, and decided to have a crack at the strong box i use to keep medication in. And i got it. TLDR i just picked my first ever lock!
It's not drop shipping - they have exclusive distribution rights to sell the product in certain countries under their chosen name and they hold a level of stock.
There is a way to make austenitic stainless very hard to cut with a saw or grind away but most manufacturers won't go to the additional expense. While the stainless is still molten manganese nodules are added to it and they get cast into the end product. Manganese is initially somewhat soft but if you try to work it it work hardens rapidly. When that happens, your tool with probably break like you hit a security pin and if you are grinding your disc will glaze and stop cutting. This type of stainless is special order and is primarily used for making rod and flat bar for the construction of prison bar systems.
*Phone Picked up* “Thank you for calling lobojack...” “This is the lock picking lawyer.. we don’t want any problems, right?” “We’ll send you a new one right away.”
Very cool lock. I believe I have their Centurion lock; a pin-tumbler lock with a shrouded shackle. Their customer service folks were exceptionally friendly with me as well, which was awesome. :) Anyway, great picking as always, man!
0:39 I heard you start off with "in any case..." and I thought the next words would be "thats all I have for you today..."😮😁😂👌 Edit : You did it again at 4:48!😂😂😂
It's interesting to hear how much his accent sticks out when he pronounces the letter "O" in certain words, such as at 00:11 when he says "ordering", compared to every other pronunciation.
Yes! I was hoping you would get this lock! Hope you put the defective one up to the Ramset challenge, it would be interesting how you could possibly attack it with that.
Nice picking LPLawyer! I am getting into disc detainer locks soon. You make it look so easy but it is easier said than done. Keep up the good work my friend!
It’s almost like a hobo created this lock but was told by his hobo friends that he couldn’t call this lock a hobo lock, so at the last minute the hobo had a light bulb moment and said “We shall call this lock a Lobo Lock”!😂 Also I just came across your channel a couple days ago sir, and I have been binge watching all your videos since!!😂😎
I would be surprised if that will do anything to this short of firing a nail down the keyway. There's too much metal everywhere. I watched the other video also and commented on putting a slide hammer on the core and on the end of the shackle pin. I think one of those will give.
"saw and drill through with normal hand tools" - I'd suggest you try that yourself. 304 is a pain in the butt to drill, you need good drill bits and cooling, otherwise you will likely burn the bit. Same goes for the saw. The steel workhardens when machining, so the chips are pretty nasty and the tool likes swing between skating over the surface and biting in like a pitbull, which in case of drilling with hand tools is not fun.
Drill and tap the holding pin, pull it out with a bolt. If this is possible you could improve or swap the core. To hold the core drill the pin hole out a little, thread it and install a stainless grub screw, it could make this a very useful device.
The 304 should provide some drill resistance, as it easily work hardens. Your average cordless drill dose not have the low speed torque required to do a low rpm, high feed pressure that you need for stainless.
Good video. I collect locks. "I can't pick them". I just like them. Please but links below each video. As to buy these locks from. Thank you. Many thumbs up.
Nice video, two requests, take the bad one, see if you can pick it open and also as someone else mentioned...Ramset it! Leave the good one in operation condition. :)
About your concerns with the pin, it seems to be a situational hazzard only. If this lock was put to secure a gate that has only two metal rings on each side, it could be that the pin would be positioned facing the gate itself, thus making it impossible to utilise the pin as a way to defeat the lock.
Chinese locks are getting better. Both the product and the presentation. Also a fairly unique design internally. I'm looking forward to the destructive testing now ;)
The fact that you got a new one no questions asked made me think it was a chinese company. My wife gets this treatment for many items purchased on Amazon
If anything, I'm appaled by the imitation keyhead design à la Abloy Disklock Pro. That said, I'll be perusing this Channel for any videos pertaining to the Australian Lock Company and/or Assa Abloy locks. Keep up the informative reviews.
favorite parts of this video: LockPickingLawyer has a contact that knows all the rare chinese lock brands. And that he decided to smash this with a hammer a few times before making the video. Gotta love the details
We have similar looking locks at my work. While we don't have issues with the locks themselves, the keys tend to snap off in the lock after a couple of years.
China gear is almost alway a bit gritty. If you ever buy a new gun from China always, always clean it before even dry cycling it. I have owned and still own many Chinese firearms, (legally of course since I can buy them easily enough being Canadian). Cheap and cheerful but a bit gritty and almost always work. Chinese mechanical items have a quality control that usually cares little for appearance and “feel” but do seriously value function. Complain about a scratch on your 9mm 1911 and you won’t get any attention but if you tell Norinco your gun has stove pipes after a 200rd break-in and they practically freak out and arrange an exchange at the point of purchase double quick. Good stuff but ugly and gritty, (oily and smelly as well if mechanical).
I've had a similar experience with the trigger on my Norinco SKS. It was terrible. Even though it was clean, it felt gritty with every pull. Thankfully, 600 grit sand paper and several hours of sanding the sear resolved it. It's definitely a favorite rifle now.
I asked on bills video for this lock but I figured I'd ask you as well so here is my original comment/question I posted on bills video: Does somebody make a disc detainer training lock? Something that's easily disassembled or a clear one? (Personally I don't like the clear ones bc you always find yourself taking a peak and in a real world situation that isn't an option.) But an easily disassembled lock with maybe some extra gates to change the bitting and get you used to false gates would be great. And if there isn't that type of thing available maybe somebody would see this and make one! But I'd like to try to start picking this type of lock for some new fun and it would be great if I could get something like that. Plus good disc detainers are pretty expensive, too much so for me to rip apart and make into some sort of trainer. Any help or leads in the right direction would be appreciated.
Drilling or sawing through 304 is no easy task, but you should always check it with a magnet, 304 is non magnetic, 430 SS is ferritic and a magnet will stick.
So, you could make the pick attack more difficult by welding a few plates near the key hole that are far enough to still allow the key to go between the lock and the plate, but too close to allow the much larger pick to go in there. Which brings up another idea about locks in general... How much more difficult would it be for you to pick a lock if it was set in a mechanism that required the key to have a 12-18" handle on the key to even *reach* the face of the lock? Do you think that you could pick a lock where you had to work through a 1" diameter hole that was 12" or more long just to even get to the face of the lock? A good way to test that would be to take a cheap door lock that you normally can pick very easily and mount it so that a piece of 1" sched-40 steel pipe was aligned with the center of the keyhole so that you needed to insert your pick the entire length of the pipe to pick the lock. Record the time that it takes to pick this vs picking it normally. It might be an interesting challenge.
Looks like a spring loaded bearing on the shackle..? Maybe a whack or three with a rubber mallet and a little pull out on the shackle will bump the lock open??
304SS won't rust on normal weather, but will rust on maritime conditions. If you live by the sea or are securing a boat, this will rust, even if mostly superficially (due to the thickness of this beef). 316SS is the way to go on these situations.
~4:44 i can tell this was made in china by hand because the lock core doesn't fit flush with the hole it is inserted into. this means they did not use cnc equipment to make a precise hole for it.
In my humble opinion, if this lock were to be used to lock a vertical door, shutter, etc., I would attack it with a crowbar. As there's no bolt-to option on the housing, I'm pretty sure there would be enough play to get a crowbar under the lip of the housing. The sturdy lock body would be a good enough fulcrum to bend the locking bolt into submission. Picking it is probably the best way to open it if used in any other context.
This problem can be solved by designing the locking position. If the keyway is facing a corner wall or a strong solid door handle or a metal plate or frame welded on the door. There will be no room for the slide hammer